


i just wanna be your pretty girl (when you want it)

by Boardingschooled



Series: (this is) the good life [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Upside Down, Background Steve Harrington/Billy Hargrove, F/F, F/M, Fraternities & Sororities, M/M, Minor Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-25 23:50:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20380177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boardingschooled/pseuds/Boardingschooled
Summary: Hi my sweet, sweet babies!!!!Iamincluding a little bit more greek life and DIY space lingo below. If you notice anything that you don't understand or that doesn't make sense re: those things, PLEASE let me know!! My plan is to do a full primer for what frats/srats are like at large party schools but I don't even know what's common knowledge and what isn't lmao.Thank you all SO MUCH for all the love onsaucing!! I'm so glad y'all liked it and I hope you like this slightly tamer take on some LESBIANS!!DIY spaces: a lot of college towns and larger cities have a large underground/DIY music scene. Basically, a whole bunch of the artsy ppl in town get together and somebody (or somebodies) has a venue space. They take donations during concerts and events to help pay the bills, purchase new equipment, etc. A lot of the time, the space gets taken care of (cleaned, managed, set up/cleared up) by a whole group of ppl who want to make sure DIY spaces still exist in their area. (I only very recently stopped dropping off hand sanitizer and toiletries and shit for my local DIY space, and only b/c somebody offered to take that responsibility over.)While many DIY spaces focus really heavily on being a venue for bands who might not otherwise be booked in their towns, it's not just a space for music. (My local one has art markets a few times a season, swap meets, art exhibits, comedy shows, etc.) They can be really awesome, really inclusive places, but a lot of times there are a lot of the snooty cool kids who always made/still make me feel like I'm~too mainstream~for the space. I did get a stick-and-poke at one once, though, which made me FEEL like I was cool enough to be there.Frat/Srat Lingo:Chapter:Most sororities and fraternities are national organizations. When a group of people on a college campus demonstrates enough interest in a frat/srat, they apply to create a new chapter. If the national org says yes, they become officially affiliated with that organization. There can only be one chapter of any given organization on any single college campus (i.e. there couldn't be two Kappa Delta chapters at the same university). Usually, all sororities and most frats have their chapter meetings on the same day, which is a huge pain in the ass if you're driving down frat row and you're in a hurry and it's chapter meeting day.Big/Little:When you pledge to join a sorority (and often when you join a frat, too, although there are a lot of different terms b/c the "big/little" verbiage istoo gayor whatever), you're encouraged to make friends with the older members of the chapter, and after a kind ofget to know youperiod, you get picked by an older member (your big) to be their little. Basically they're kind of responsible for helping you get through life, pass your classes, have a good time at parties, etc. They're called big/little for big sister/little sister. Some frats use a father/son system which is GROSS. You can have a whole complicated family within your srat/frat (i.e., you have your big, your grandbig, who's your big's big, and your great-grandbig, who's your grandbig's big.) Sometimes people use a big family system that includes aunts and cousins and shit, it'swild!!!Pledge:A pledge is a probationary member of a frat/srat. Basically, if you've been through rush and you get accepted to join a group, you become a pledge. In sororities, there's typically not a whole lot of hazing, although there can be quizzes over the history of your srat, some menial task shit like working sorority events, etc. The frat pledge process is usually a lot more obvious and way more of a pain in the ass, apparently. Sometimes they have to wear specific outfits or clothing on specific days, participate in drinking contests, get faux-kidnapped by their frat brothers, do menial labor, be designated driver when there are parties off campus, and pick up/clean up after parties. (Also, frats usually have pledges wear pledge pins, and if a girl in a sorority takes it, you have to do basically whatever she wants to get it back. Usually this is harmless, but sometimes it isn't. Greek life culture is TRULY WILD.Let me know if there are any other things you'd like clarification on, you're all the best and I appreciate the hell out of every one of you all!!





	i just wanna be your pretty girl (when you want it)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi my sweet, sweet babies!!!!
> 
> I _am_ including a little bit more greek life and DIY space lingo below. If you notice anything that you don't understand or that doesn't make sense re: those things, PLEASE let me know!! My plan is to do a full primer for what frats/srats are like at large party schools but I don't even know what's common knowledge and what isn't lmao. 
> 
> Thank you all SO MUCH for all the love on _saucing_!! I'm so glad y'all liked it and I hope you like this slightly tamer take on some LESBIANS!! 
> 
> DIY spaces: a lot of college towns and larger cities have a large underground/DIY music scene. Basically, a whole bunch of the artsy ppl in town get together and somebody (or somebodies) has a venue space. They take donations during concerts and events to help pay the bills, purchase new equipment, etc. A lot of the time, the space gets taken care of (cleaned, managed, set up/cleared up) by a whole group of ppl who want to make sure DIY spaces still exist in their area. (I only very recently stopped dropping off hand sanitizer and toiletries and shit for my local DIY space, and only b/c somebody offered to take that responsibility over.) 
> 
> While many DIY spaces focus really heavily on being a venue for bands who might not otherwise be booked in their towns, it's not just a space for music. (My local one has art markets a few times a season, swap meets, art exhibits, comedy shows, etc.) They can be really awesome, really inclusive places, but a lot of times there are a lot of the snooty cool kids who always made/still make me feel like I'm _~too mainstream~_ for the space. I did get a stick-and-poke at one once, though, which made me FEEL like I was cool enough to be there.
> 
> Frat/Srat Lingo:
> 
>   * _Chapter:_ Most sororities and fraternities are national organizations. When a group of people on a college campus demonstrates enough interest in a frat/srat, they apply to create a new chapter. If the national org says yes, they become officially affiliated with that organization. There can only be one chapter of any given organization on any single college campus (i.e. there couldn't be two Kappa Delta chapters at the same university). Usually, all sororities and most frats have their chapter meetings on the same day, which is a huge pain in the ass if you're driving down frat row and you're in a hurry and it's chapter meeting day.
>   * _Big/Little:_ When you pledge to join a sorority (and often when you join a frat, too, although there are a lot of different terms b/c the "big/little" verbiage is _too gay_ or whatever), you're encouraged to make friends with the older members of the chapter, and after a kind of _get to know you_ period, you get picked by an older member (your big) to be their little. Basically they're kind of responsible for helping you get through life, pass your classes, have a good time at parties, etc. They're called big/little for big sister/little sister. Some frats use a father/son system which is GROSS. You can have a whole complicated family within your srat/frat (i.e., you have your big, your grandbig, who's your big's big, and your great-grandbig, who's your grandbig's big.) Sometimes people use a big family system that includes aunts and cousins and shit, it's _wild!!!_
>   * _Pledge:_ A pledge is a probationary member of a frat/srat. Basically, if you've been through rush and you get accepted to join a group, you become a pledge. In sororities, there's typically not a whole lot of hazing, although there can be quizzes over the history of your srat, some menial task shit like working sorority events, etc. The frat pledge process is usually a lot more obvious and way more of a pain in the ass, apparently. Sometimes they have to wear specific outfits or clothing on specific days, participate in drinking contests, get faux-kidnapped by their frat brothers, do menial labor, be designated driver when there are parties off campus, and pick up/clean up after parties. (Also, frats usually have pledges wear pledge pins, and if a girl in a sorority takes it, you have to do basically whatever she wants to get it back. Usually this is harmless, but sometimes it isn't. Greek life culture is TRULY WILD.
> 
> Let me know if there are any other things you'd like clarification on, you're all the best and I appreciate the hell out of every one of you all!!

So one Tuesday, Robin gets this text from Billy,_ gave your number to this girl from pride who’s ur type EXACTLY!! she wants to talk about art stuff for pride or sth but u should meet up w/ her. thank me later, fuckface. _

She rolls her eyes at her phone, taps out _ you don’t even KNOW my type, you big ol’ frat boy_, drops it back down on her desk next to her drawing tablet. She’s _ supposed _ to be redesigning famous logos for class, but she’s really just been fucking around on Pinterest, looking for inspiration for the next KD shirt. 

Big Billz (cash emoji)

_ Bet u $20 that ur into her _

Robin

_ y would I take that bet, u already owe me $35 from when we went out last weekend _

Big Billz (cash emoji)

_ (img2458.jpg) _

_ Sorry, I forgot to tell u I’m wearing sunglasses 2 block out my haters (aka you) _

She doesn’t dignify his super-fratty selfie with a response, just flicks on a youtube video for background noise and goes back to her Pinterest board. When her phone buzzes again, she figures it’s just Billy again, freaking out about Steve or something. She’s been listening to Billy pine for Harrington’s dick from afar for, like, _ a year and a half_, at this point, and she’s pretty sure Steve would go for it if Billy made a move, but she’s not gonna give him too much shit. He’s held her hair while she puked and talked her through more than one panic attack for her to give him much shit about anything, at this point. When she checks her phone again, she kind of freaks out.

219-435-5555

_ Hi, is this Robin? _

_ Billy Hargrove gave me your number at a Pride meeting, said you might be able to help with decorations for the float for Pride weekend in June. _

_ Would you be able to meet up with me and talk more sometime this week? _

Robin stares at the texts for longer than she probably needs to. Like, Billy usually tries to hook her up with big, dumb-looking frat boys (no fucking _ thanks_) or hyper-femme lipstick lesbians. Everybody he tries to wingman her into getting with is _hot_, obviously, but they aren’t really her _ type_. 

She likes artsy people, people who have faded stick-and-pokes from getting drunk with their friends and only wear superskinny jeans and play in the noisy, nearly-listenable bands she goes to see at The Haus when she doesn’t have a social or a formal or a chapter meeting. She likes boys with thin skins and ribs that poke through their skin who looks like they drink all their calories in PBR and Miller High Life, likes girls who have Ellen haircuts and thick thighs and wear ugly buttondowns and know how to lead when they dance together, likes people who have _ interests _ and aren’t afraid to show them. 

It seems like every non-KD sorority girl she knows has something she hides from her sisters, a D&D group where she plays a godkiller or a fantasy football team that _ wrecks _ all the guys’ brackets every year. The guys are (with the exception of a select few, Billy included) even fucking _ worse _ , would rather _ die _ than let anybody know that they go home every weekend in the fall to help their parents make preserves out of what their summer garden produced or that they listen to ASMR every night to get to sleep. 

So she has kind of a low bar for what Billy thinks her type is, but the chance that some girl who’s super involved in Pride _ is _ her type is statistically more likely than any _ other _ place Billy could’ve met a potential love interest for her. She’s met a couple of the people in Pride, and they’ve all been _ way _ cooler than the girls Billy _ usually _ tries to wingman for her, so, who fucking knows, really.

If the Pride meetings were any time other than Tuesday evenings, Robin would go; it’s just that Tuesday nights mean chapter meetings and she isn’t dumb enough to miss a chapter meeting unless she’s _ literally _ dying. The last time she’d missed one, in early spring her freshman year, they had voted her the t-shirt chair, effective immediately, and now look where she is: trolling Pinterest for _ just the right photo _ of a girl in roller skates to send to the designer at the design company. 

(She’s lucky, really; last spring she’d gone in to meet with them directly to figure out why the _ fuck _ their t-shirts were so cookie cutter. The sales rep she’d met with initially had dragged in a member of the design team into the meeting after about ten minutes of frustration, and now Robin emails the design team directly with a basic proof for them to make look good. She hasn’t had to make some poor designer do five rounds of edits because their sales rep didn’t know what _ kerning _ meant since last May.)

_ Okay, sounds cool, _ Robin sends, then has a minor freakout. That’s, like, super unprofessional, and what if this girl really _ is _ cute and she’s just made it look like she doesn’t care about this _ at all_, shit, _ shit._

Robin

_ Sorry, that was super duper lame _

_ I would LOVE to meet up! When are you free? _

219-435-5555

_ How does Friday afternoon sound, like, around three? I have class until 2:45, so I could do any time after then, too, or we could do later in the weekend or next week if that’s easier for you! _

Robin

_ No, that sounds great! _

_ Wanna meet at the coffeeshop in the law building? I normally go there to do homework Friday afternoons anyways. _

219-435-5555

_ Perfect!! I have class in Preston Hall so that’s, like, super close. _

Robin

_ Oh, uh, what’s your name? _

219-435-5555

_ Oh, shit, sorry!! My name’s Barb _

_ (img3356.jpg) _

_ Here’s what I look like, just wave me down on Friday! _

Okay, so. The thing is that, uh, Billy isn’t fucking wrong. Barb is, like, _ exactly _ her type, with short-cropped red hair and a big, goofy smile and those giant plastic-frame glasses she thinks are _ so fucking cute _ on other people. She’s giving a stupid little thumbs-up to the camera in her ugly, _ ugly _ buttondown that Robin would bet money that she bought at a thrift store and she looks a little self-conscious about the selfie, but she’s _ so cute_. 

Robin fusses with her bangs in her mirror for a second, touches up her lipstick where she tends to bite the color off her lower lip when she’s concentrating, snaps a selfie. It looks okay but, like, she feels a little too self-conscious to send it, so she just sends back _ Sounds awesome, see you then! _ and throws her phone onto her bed. She’ll freak out about it later, when Gemma or Rivka or Sam or Kali or one of the other girls comes to bother her into eating dinner. 

  
  


Big Billz (cash emoji)

_ ok so like... _

_ how hot should I look 2nite?? _

_ like, I’ll obv look hot as fuck anyways, it’s ME _

_ but, like, is it Too Much™ to be shirtless? _

_ is a crop top 2 much??? _

Robin

_ Listen, you and I BOTH know you’re gonna get drunk and end up shirtless regardless _

_ SO I would say plan for that?? _

_ Also, you KNOW I’m in class _

_ Just b/c you and yr bros feel like it’s cool to skip class for a week this close to finals doesn’t mean the rest of us do _

Big Billz (cash emoji)

_ don’t hate me cuz you ain’t me _

_ hatersgonnahate.gif _

_ fr tho what’s the vibe on crop top?? _

Robin

_ You said last week when we got sushi that u wanted to wear a crop for the Phi Delt thing, right? _

_ Why are you being so weird about the shirtless thing tho? Are u NERVOUS?? _

_ I doubt ~Steve~ would mind you being shirtless, in fact I’m pretty sure he’d like it The Most™ _

_ Plus if I had a hot bod like yrs I’d be shirtless all the time too. If u got it, flaunt it, right?? _

Big Billz (cash emoji)

_ yeah okay fair _

_ about the Phi Delt crop top plan _

_ also about me having a hot bod _

_ (not about the nervous thing, u know I don’t get nervous) _

_ btw did u fall in love w/ the hot lesbian I sent ur way yet? u owe me a cool twenty dollars if u did, dnt forget!!! _

Robin

_ We’re meeting in like half an hour _

_ And idek her yet dude, didn’t yr mom ever tell you not to go counting yr chickens before they hatch?? _

_ I don’t trust you as a wingman ever since you tried to get me to hook up with ur pledge _

Big Billz (cash emoji)

_ that was just to knock him down a peg, I knew u wouldn’t go 4 it _

_ he was getting too cocky abt hooking up with older ladiezzz _

_ I had to teach him his place lmao _

Robin

_ You KNOW Gemma loves doing shit like that, why didn’t u have her do that?? _

Big Billz (cash emoji)

_ ok so I TRIED to do that with Gemma but she, like, ACTUALLY HOOKED UP WITH HIM _

Robin

_ Ok fair _

_ Send me ur outfit choices I guess _

_ My lecture is boring it’s like he’s forgotten that we all already KNOW HOW COLOR THEORY WORKS _

_ Remind me again why I agreed to take an advertising class _

Big Billz (cash emoji)

_ (img2502.jpg) _

_ (img2504.jpg) _

_ (img2507.jpg) _

_ there r ur choices _

_ remember it’s jungle fever theme _

_ u took the class b/c ur mom read that stupid article abt graphic design and advertizing and got u all excited abt advertising money b/c u don’t wanna b a starving artist or w/e _

Robin

_ Okay, the cutoff button down is very fun, but a little too close to a thing I’ve seen girls at Haus shows wear as artsy shit and you’d catch a ton of shit from Tommy and those assholes _

_ I really think u should just wear the palm tree shorts by themselves _

_ Maybe a hat or a lei or something for some flair_

_ And okay you’re right but warn me before you read me for filth, asshole _

_ Go drink ur weight in beer and have a good time _

Big Billz (cash emoji)

_ I can prolly still get u a band if you want one, just holler before 6:30 _

_ You can cashapp me my $20 once ur in love _

_ I know how u Gal Pals™ can b _

Robin

_ Omg why are u like this I send u ONE(1) Kristen Stewart/her gf headline and now every queer woman in the world is now a Certified Gal Pal™? _

_ Also if I take ur bullshit $20 bet, I triple dog dare u to ask Steve to shotgun u a hit _

_ I know u like that romantic shit _

Big Billz (cash emoji)

_ God, u know I can’t resist a triple dog dare _

_ (Don’t tell ppl abt the romantic shit tho my street cred is BARELY hanging on now that I spent an hour and a half worrying abt what I was gonna wear) _

She messes around on Instagram while she waits for the barista to finish her drink (iced coffee with a pump of mint and two pumps of chocolate, because if she’s gonna get accused of being a basic bitch she might as well be one). For a while, she tries to do the reading for her history of design class, but even learning about how design affected WWII propaganda which then affected post-war design (which is, in all honesty, cool as _ fuck_) isn’t enough to keep her from whipping her head around to look every time somebody opens the door to the cafe. 

(She might’ve taken a little bit more care with her appearance than she usually does when she left the dorm earlier; the srat t-shirts are comfortable as hell, and even though she doesn’t exactly think it’s _ cute _ to walk around looking like she forgot to put on pants, she’s not gonna get all gussied up for her nine am class _either_, alright?

“Oh my _ god_, is our very own little heartbreaker _ nervous _ for a _ date? _” Rivka yelled when she barged into Robin’s room earlier.

“You have a _ date? _” Kali howled, capping her pen with obvious interest. 

“She texted me while I was in my lecture earlier about what she should wear to look, and I quote, ‘cool and cute but not like I’m trying’ for some meeting she’s going to, but it’s _ absolutely _ a date, right?”

“No!” Robin had blushed so hard she had had to hide her face in the sleeves of her sweatshirt. “It’s just a meeting, _ chill_, this is why I don’t ask you for fashion advice all the time.”

“Why didn’t you ask _ me? _ ” Kali pouted; she’s the whiniest little _ ever _ but Robin would _ die _ for her.

“Kali, G-Little, _ please_, your strengths lie in _ other _ seductive arts, like threatening boys who try to fuck with us at parties and reading girls’ palms to get them to go home with you,” Rivka dismissed, pulling shit out of Robin’s closet. “Robs, where’s that strappy little black dress we bought at Goodwill last weekend? It’ll look _ so _ cute with your Doc sandals and this crop top underneath.” Rivka’s gonna poke fun at her for the next _ month _ about her not-date, but there’s a reason Robin had texted her anyways. She’s _ the best _ at stuff like this, and the outfit she’d thrown onto Robin’s bed next to where Kali’s curled up with her Chemistry notes and a teetering stack of flashcards is _ perfect_. It says _ hi, I’m a normal person who’s ready for a semi-professional meeting _ and _ I’m very cute and you should have a crush on me NOW _ in equal amounts.

“Rivka, you’re a _ genius_,” Robin admitted, faux-grumpy. 

“So who _ is _ this mystery meeting with, then?” Kali’d asked, taking any excuse to ignore the organic compounds test she was freaking out about. 

“Some girl from Pride, about helping them design stuff for the city's Pride parade this summer.” Robin was changing, trying to take a strategic retreat from looking at either of them.

“Okay, but, like, she must be _ cute _ then, if you’re all worried about it. How do you know her? Do _ I _ know her?” Rivka probably _ does _ know Barb, given how shallow the queer dating pool can be around here, but she’s being nosy, so Robin doesn’t answer, just leans into the mirror to make sure her eyeliner hasn’t smudged.

“Is it THIS GIRL?” Kali yelled, throwing Robin’s phone over to Rivka, the selfie Barb had sent on the screen. “Ooh, she’s _ cute _, I know you like that baby-butch thing, Robs.” Rivka made an approving noise, nodded like she agrees with Kali. 

“Okay, _ first _ of all, how the fuck do you know my passcode again, I _just_ changed it like, last week!” Kali had on that face, the one that says _ I can tell you but you won’t like the answer_, and so Robin dropped it. “_Second _ of all, what lipstick do I wear? Or should I wear any? Is that too, like, sorority girl of me?”

“Oh my _ god_, I’ve _ never _ seen you so nervous about a _ girl _ before, who even ARE you,” Rivka yelled, and Robin rolled her eyes, threw her books into her backpack and started ushering them out of her room. 

“Always use protection,” Kali said, tossing her a dental dam, which, like, even on _ college campuses _ these are a pain in the ass to find, she usually has to use a cut up condom or some saran wrap. She scoffed at Kali, but tucked the dam into her backpack nonetheless. No use looking a gift horse in the mouth, right?)

After a bunch of false alarms, Robin glances over and sees Barb. She almost hits herself in the face trying to wave Barb down, and it’s so embarrassing she wants to, like, _ die_. Barb waves back all enthusiastic too, though, and nearly runs a guy down getting over to the table Robin’s commandeered. 

“Hi, nice to meet you, Robin,” Barb exclaims, holds her hand out. Robin takes it, sees a wince go over Barb’s face. Maybe Robin smells bad or she’s got slimy palms or something, oh _ god_. 

“Sorry, that was, like, _ super _ awkward,” Barb says, still kind of holding Robin’s hand. “Oh, shit, sorry. I’m, uh, just gonna go get a drink.” She drops Robin’s hand, wanders over to the register to order. Robin checks her phone like it’ll calm her nerves, which, like, _ yeah right_, but there _ is _ a text to the group chat she and Kali and Rivka and Gemma have together. 

DJ Kali

_ Good luck on ur “not-date” _

Rivets

_ Just be ur nice little self, you look fly as hell!! _

_ If she’s not into it we can go find u another fucker to appreciate ur killer self (and that killer ASS, amirite??) _

Gem and the Holograms

_ OMG our lil babey is going on a date!!! _

_ Get it girl _

_ U better tell us ALL ABT IT later _

Weirdly enough, she feels calmer, reading their bullshit; her sisters might all be extra as hell, but they’re _ hers_, and they’re gonna hype her up no matter what. 

“Sorry I was so awkward, sometimes I meet someone new and I go into, like, nervous robot mode,” Barb says in a rush when she sits back down. “How are you today?”

“Um, good,” Robin says, feels like she’s being every bit the Gay Disaster™ Billy always teases her about being. It’s just that Barb’s even cuter in person, and, like, Robin doesn’t get _ nearly _ enough exposure to butchy girls in her daily life to be chill when she meets an especially attractive specimen. “How are _ you?_”

“_God_, my Intro to Biochem professor’s an _ asshole_, he gave us extra p-sets because I corrected something on the slides.” Barb’s cute and nice and, apparently, like, _ smart as hell_, if the way she apparently just casually corrected a professor and was _ right _ and then just said something about it like it’s _ nothing _ is an indication. Robin, like, wants to _ date her _ a little.

“_Ugh_, I only had to take Principles of Biology and I struggled, I don’t know _ how _ you do all that _ math and science_,” Robin commiserates. “Like, that shit is _ hard_.” 

“It’s basically just a bunch of puzzles and patterns, but what’s hard for one person isn’t always hard for another, like, I have to have my friend Nancy fix every single one of my papers, I can’t write for _ shit_, I don’t _ care _ what the author’s _ meaning _ is.”

“I guess,” Robin says, “Or, well, one time I had to try to explain to someone what layers are in photoshop and I gave her a headache, so, like, maybe you’re right.” Honestly, _ she _ still gets headaches dealing with photoshop, but they’re a lot less frequent and usually have a hell of a lot more to do with the fact that she spent half an hour drawing on the wrong _ fucking _ layer. 

“Oh _ god_, I _ look _ at computer programs wrong and they stop working, like, in the lab I’m not allowed to touch one of the computers unless the Beatles are playing because I keep fucking up data collection points somehow.” 

Robin laughs, and Barb smiles, has these _ adorable _ dimples that Robin just kind of wants to kiss. They just, like, _ look _ at each other for a second, until Barb clears her throat, glances away. 

“So, like, Billy said you’re the art chair for your sorority, I don’t really know what that means but clearly you know more about design than I do if you understand _ anything _ about Photoshop,” Barb jokes.

They talk shop for a while (Robin _ absolutely _ volunteers her skills and the extra decorations they _ always _ have at the end of the year for the float, starts sketching something out on a notebook that’s gonna be _ impossible _ for her to interpret later, probably, but it’s fine, Barb seemed excited about everything) and then they talk about classes and stuff until all the ice melts out of Robin’s coffee and Barb suggests that they go grab dinner at the student union. It doesn’t _ feel _ like they’ve been sitting here talking for two hours, but from the way the barista’s frowning at them for taking valuable table space, they _ should _ probably clear out.

“How do you know Billy?” Robin asks as they’re walking across the green, squinting against the late-afternoon sunlight.

“His family moved to our town right before college started, and his little sister is friends with Nancy and Jonathan’s kid brothers. We all ended up hanging out together a few times over breaks freshman year, you know how it is in small towns, and last summer we all decided that he really _isn’t_ as bad as he seems like he would be, uh, no offense.” Barb winces that wince that Robin’s all-too-familiar with, the one that says _I forgot you’re in Greek life_ _and I'm__ not supposed to talk shit on frats and sororities when you're in the room_. It always kind of makes Robin laugh, like, she and her sisters have spent _so long_ ragging on the rest of the Panhellenic orgs that it doesn’t even phase her when people talk shit on srats most of the time. 

“Yeah, that’s probably fair. He is, like, one of the most aggressively fratty people I know who I don’t actively hate.” Robin sees Barb smile, this little, secret thing that Robin wants to be the cause of _ all the time, forever and ever amen_.

“So, other than the obvious reason, how do you know Billy well enough that you’re in his phone as ‘My Fave VCSO Hoe?’” 

“Oh my _ god_, I forgot that’s how he has me saved, that _ asshole_,” Robin sighs, and before she can plot her revenge too far out, Barb’s laughing and she decides to drop it. She doesn't even use VSCO more than, like, once every three Instagram photos, so Billy can fuck right off, honestly. 

“He was the first frat boy I met that I didn’t _ actually _ want to kill, and now we’re each other’s dates to formals and stuff when he doesn’t have one. He’s like, my best guy friend, really, even though he’s gross as _ hell _ like every other frat boy I’ve ever met.” Robin feels like she should talk Billy up a _ little _ more than that, mostly because he’ll probably pine himself to death and make her watch if Steve’s friends don’t approve of him, so she adds, “He’s, like, _ super _ excited about this frat ambassador thing, though, like, he’s the one that made his president make all the frats have one, I don’t know if anyone told you that.” 

“Yeah, uh, this summer he started asking all these questions about Safe Zone trainings and stuff, I actually got to be his, like, _ expert witness _ or whatever when the frats were voting on whether to have the Safe Zone representatives.” 

“Sounds about right. And, like, you’re friends with Steve, right?” Robin's _so_ invested in Billy's stupid crush, but it's not like it's _her_ drama, so. Barb’s eyes are, like, _ twinkling _at Robin, like she’s in on the joke. Robin is _ too gay for this_.

“Yeah, although I’ve heard enough of Steve’s dramatic bullshit to _ feel _ like I know Billy. Is Billy, like, _ that extra _ about Steve to you? I feel like I get some ridiculous text at _ least _ once a week that’s like, _ help me Barb!!! Billy’s wearing those sweatpants again!!!! _ or some shit.” 

“Oh my _ god_,” Robin half-yells, freaks out a couple of the people in line for stir fry ahead of them. She and Barb break out into helpless giggles. “I haven’t even _ met _ Steve and I feel like I could pick him out of a crowd, like, I probably know more about his daily habits than _ he _ does at this point.”

Robin steers the two of them to her favorite alcove, the one that usually has a really nice view of the sunset over the clock tower, and realizes belatedly that it might be, like, a little _romantic_ or whatever? Maybe Barb’s not the type of person who, like, thinks about subtext and shit like that? (Probably she is, given that she’s sitting in one of the uncomfortable chairs to let Robin have the booth side; Barb must’ve already noticed that she doesn’t like to sit with her back to doorways.)

They talk for almost an hour, about Billy and Steve and her experience in a sorority and Barb’s engineering lab and a million other things, when Barb’s phone _ blows up_, like, she gets four texts in a row and then a phone call all in about a minute. Barb is one of those people who doesn’t check her notifications the second they come in, and she does ignore the texts at first. She finally flips her phone over to look at it when she gets the phone call, and rolls her eyes at the screen. 

“Oh, _ Jesus_, the drama never ends,” Barb sighs in apology before she answers the call; Robin can just barely hear somebody _ freaking out _ on the other line.

“Yeah, Steeb, I _ guess _ I can come help you figure out what to wear, I just need you to, like, _ take a fucking chill pill_, I’m at the U with Robin and it’s gonna take me _ at least _ fifteen to get across campus. Your fashion emergency is _ not _ important enough for me to run wearing a backpack, and you fucking _ know it_.” There’s some burbles from the other line, and Barb laughs this deep-throated laugh, and Robin’s gonna _ lose her mind_. “Yeah, you can roll me a little something for later if you want, I’ll be there either way.” 

“Sorry,” she apologizes once she hangs up. “Steve’s having a Big Gay Freakout about what to wear tonight. I already _ told _ him Billy’s gonna be all up in his shit tonight regardless, but he’s helped coach me through enough of my own Big Gay Freakouts that I owe him a couple.” 

“Dude, I _ totally _ get it--sorry, is ‘dude’ okay?--and If it makes you feel better,” Robin leans in close like she’s got a secret, breath hitching as she catches the faintly herbal scent of something Barb must be wearing. “Billy sent me _ photos _ of his potential outfits earlier, and I’m pretty sure that was before he started drinking for the day and got all _ in his feelings _ about Steve.” 

Barb laughs, bites her bottom lip when she smiles, and Robin gets a little distracted from what ’s talking about, looking at the dent in Barb’s lip and thinking about how much she’d like to put her own teeth there, how she’d like to scatter her own marks across Barb’s skin like the words of an e.e. Cummings poem. 

“So, I guess I’ll, uh, just wait for you to get back to me when you have updates?” Robin tunes back in long enough to hear Barb say. _ Fuck_, she really should’ve been paying attention, but, like, Barb looks like the best days of fall with this golden hour lighting shining through her hair, so why _ wouldn’t _ Robin get distracted?

“Oh, yeah, sounds good,” Robin says before her mind catches up with her mouth. Barb gets up from the table, slings her backpack over her shoulder and does this awkward movement that starts like a handshake and ends as a wave. 

“Thanks _ so _ much, Robin, you’re _ so great!_” Barb calls over her shoulder as she walks away, and Robin waves back, watches her until she turns the corner. 

Robin pulls out her phone, sends a row of dramatic emojis and _ sos gaymergency @ the u _ to one of her groupchats. It’s, like, _ maybe _ thirty seconds before Rivka texts back. 

Rivets

_ OMG!! ok ok give me 5, packing up my shit @ the lib _

Gem and the Holograms

_ if y’all wanna come to the house 2 discuss i’m making dinner, I’ll feed you n we can talk _

DJ Kali

_ Hell yeah Gemma's cooking!!!! _

_ Robin when’s the last time u even HAD a gaymergency?? I thot U were impervious to gaymergencies!!! _

Robin

_ Apparently I am susceptible to Baby Butch Energy (BBE??) omg i’m gonna DIE _

DJ Kali

_ That’s fair, butches r cute af _

_ Rivs you gotta give us those UPDATES I’m gonna lose it if I don't get context IMMEDIATELY_

Rivets

_ Ok sorry I ran into one of my TAs and got sidetracked!!! _

_ Robin CAUGHT FEELINGS, I’m calling it, it’s an Official Gaymercency™ _

_ Kali bring weeb 2 the house ASAP, we r ALL gonna need it she’s SO SO GROSS abt this girl _

Kali

_ God I forgot being in a sorority comes with all these FEELINGS _

_ I can’t believe I have FRIENDS with whom I exchange MUTUAL EMOTIONAL SUPPORT _

_ (no I’m kidding yinz are all my faves obviously) _

_ (black heart emoji)(scorpion emoji)(black heart emoji) (scorpio emoji) _

Gemma already has Whiteclaws open (mango, _ naturally_) for them when they come in through the back door.

“Right, lovey,” Gemma warns, “I start my period tomorrow and I _ did _ cry at a twitter video of someone’s dog and cat cuddling, so don’t start getting maudlin, I won’t be able to stand it. I need you to come make toast while we wait for Kali, I’m not strong enough emotionally to hear it twice.”

Gem’s being_ ridiculous_, like, the thing about crying over a dog video is probably true but she _ likes _ hearing about other people’s drama, so she can get over herself. Robin’s not gonna be the one to point that out though, _ especially _ since they’re all going to tease her good-naturedly when they hear about her Gaymercency. 

When Kali gets there, they get stoned and eat a truly frightening amount of (American) English breakfast. Robin can’t stop talking about Barb, which would be embarrassing if Gaymercencies weren’t an embarrassment-free zone, and Gemma and Rivka coo about Robin being _ too gay to hold a conversation _ enough that she feels somehow better about the whole _ being too gay to hold a conversation _thing. 

“Ask her out.” Kali’s always straightforward as hell, always cutting right to the core of the issue. (She and Billy get along like a house on fire, probably because they both take one look at somebody and know how to _destroy_ them; once some SAE had said something shitty about how _ exotic _ their sorority was like a racist _ dick _ and Billy and Kali had looked at each other, looked at the guy, and roasted the dude till he _cried_. The dude apparently _ still _ refuses to go to parties at the TKE house in fear of the two of them.)

“Uh, _ what? _ ” Robin blurts out. “She said she would talk to me _ when I had the first round of edits_, like, she didn’t give me _ any _ indication that she wanted to, like, _ hang out _ again or anything.” 

“Yinz talked for, like, _ three hours _ , right? If she’s an engineering student she’s got about six million hours of homework a night, like, you don’t just spend three hours talking to some girl you just met unless you’re into her at _ least _ from a friendship point of view, you know?” Kali says, and Robin doesn’t have to look her in the eyes to feel the _ don’t be an idiot _ glare Kali’s shooting her. 

“Yeah but, like, she left so _ suddenly_.” Robin’s _ fully _ aware of how whiny she’s being right now, but it’s her first Gaymercency in, like, a _year_, so she figures she’s entitled to a little drama. 

“She had to go help Steve, who seems like he might be her Billy if you ask _ me_, not to mention you just, like, _ tuned her out while she was talking_, so you might have just been acting _ weird _ and she felt awkward, dude.” Kali’s not looking at her, just typing a text or something with her bored little smirk on, and Robin realizes suddenly that her phone isn’t on the table anymore, puts two and two together and curses whatever mysterious force of the universe made her pick Kali to be her little. 

“Give it _ back_,” Robin demands, lunging for the phone in Kali’s hand.

“I already sent the text, but okay,” Kali shrugs, handing the phone back. “You and I were supposed to go to the Haus for that dream-pop show tonight, so just take her instead.”

“But you’re my _ little_, like, I don’t wanna ditch you during our regularly scheduled bonding time,” Robin asks, knows she’s fighting a losing battle; Gemma and Rivka both nod at Kali in approval. 

“We hang out, like, _four days a week_, Robs, I’m pretty sure I’ll be okay if we miss one night. I’ll ask Axel if he wants to go with me or, like, worst comes to worst I’ll just go by myself.” Robin’s phone buzzes in her hand, and she throws it on the table instinctively like it's gonna _bite_ or something. 

“One of you guys check it,” she moans, head in her hands. “I can’t do it.” Kali clicks her tongue, sighs, reaches over and unlocks Robin’s phone. Robin used to switch her passcode every time Kali got into it, but after she’d had to take it to Kali because she’d forgotten the new code, she'd started resetting it once a month, just to give Kali a little challenge. It’s not like Kali does anything _ bad_, mostly just changes Robin’s background to some intentionally-ugly selfie or puts a bunch of Aaron Carter songs in her Spotify queue. 

“She says _ she’d love to_, oh my _ god _ she’s so _ proper _and _polite_. She..._is typing_, hold on…she needs the address, though, since it doesn’t show up on Google Maps,” Gemma announces from her spot over Kali's shoulder, breathless with excitement. “Ooh, you should offer to _ show her_, get in a flirty little _evening stroll _or something.” 

Robin puts her hand out for her phone again and Kali hands it back, winks at Robin like _ I told you it would work_. Kali’s the most annoying little just like Billy’s the most annoying frat boy but they’re both some of her favorite people. Gemma and Rivka and Kali are arguing about whether or not she should change before the show, but Robin isn’t paying much attention at all. 

Robin

_ I can meet you at your dorm at like eight-thirty and show you where it is if u want _

_ It’s, like, a ten min walk from the east side of campus _

Barb

_ Yeah, that would be sick!! _

_ Just meet me outside of Yew Hall if you want, I’m gonna be trying to get Steve to take a goddamn CHILL PILL until right around then anyways. _

_ What I’m wearing is fine right?? _

While Robin’s writing her own perfectly good, adult response that she doesn’t need anyone’s help with, _ thank you Rivka_, her KD family comes to the agreement that she should put on makeup if she wants to look nicer but stay in her current outfit. She likes makeup, likes playing with shape and color on her face, and so she lets Rivka lead them upstairs to her vanity, bursting at the seams with palettes and primers. Kali and Rivka move on to a debate about focusing on her lips or her eyes and she texts Barb until she has to put the phone down so Rivka can work on her face.

Robin

_ Yeah, it’s pretty chill, wear whatever. _

_ Oh, it’s BYOB so I can bring us a sixpack of pbrs or whiteclaws or w/e, they don’t card, like, AT ALL. _

Barb

_ I’m more of a smoker than a drinker, if you catch my drift_, _ but thank u for asking! _

Robin

_ Oh, sick, I’ll bring us a j instead!!_

Barb

_ I got it if u got the cover charge, Steve owes me one (devil emoji) _

Robin

_ Perf!! See u then _

_ P.S. Billy DID just call me, already tipsy as fuck, to be anxious at me about Steve coming tonight. Use this info however u feel is appropriate (angel emoji)(angel emoji) _

Barb

_ Maybe I’ll tell him later _

_ It would take the fun out of it to tell him Billy’s all fucked up about him too lmao _

Robin

_ Yeah, I may have encouraged almost-drunk-Billy that maybe Steve’s love language is Physical Touch and he needs to express his feelings to Steve that way _

_ Maybe that way they’ll hook up and we can all stop wondering when it’s gonna happen _

Barb

_ Omg perfect _

_ U r so devious (devil emoji)_

_ Wait, are you into astrology shit? _

Robin

_ Yeah, I mean, I feel like all sorority girls kinda have to be, right? _

_ I’m a virgo sun, scorpio moon, taurus rising, if that’s what u were REALLY asking (devil emoji) _

Barb

_ Lmao LISTEN as a lesbian, astrology is IMPORTANT to me _

_ Hmmmm, interesting _

Robin

_ Hell yeah it IS important _

_ My little kinda thinks it’s all bullshit but, like, she’s so Fake Deep™ sometimes _

_ Also, don’t think u can get away with not telling me YOUR sign!! _

Barb

_ (img_4492.jpg) _

_ Here’s my chart _

_ It’s a MESS _

_ Libra (sun emoji) Virgo (moon emoji) Aries (up arrow emoji) so I’m basically a dramatic, non-emotional control freak lmao_

They send each other memes and shit on and off until eight twenty-five comes around and Robin’s _ booking it _ across campus from her dorm. She’d had to drop off her school shit between the KD house and meeting Barb and Her RA had flagged her down on her way out, complained about how Robin isn’t coming by to talk to her once a month. (Robin’s mom always asks RAs to do this shit so she can get a reliable update on how Robin’s _ actually _ doing, since Robin doesn't always answer her texts and phone calls in what her mom considers an acceptable window of time. It’s mostly nice, or it shows that she gives a shit at least.)

She huffs up to Yew, texts Barb a photo of the front door so she knows Robin’s waiting. The dramatic-ass eyeliner she’s wearing is a compromise between Rivka and Kali’s warring visions for her look, but it’s fun as _ hell_, certainly something to take notice of. Barb obviously notices it when she catches sight of Robin; she legit _ double-takes_, nods in approval and gives her this big thumbs up. 

“I like the makeup,” Barb offers, smiling as she gestures to her own face. 

“My big _ and _ my little are both, like, amateur beauty gurus, and I was hanging out with them earlier. Kali, my little, might be coming to the show tonight, actually.” _ God_, she sounds like every other srat girl she’s ever talked to, all _ chapter _ this and _ little _ that. She forgets that not everybody around her is a greek life expert sometimes. 

“Oh, _ nice_. I tried to wear makeup when I was in high school, but it never really felt, like, _ right_, you know? I like it on other people, though, like, I’m not one of those _ all makeup is bad makeup _ people.” Barb’s laugh has a strained note, like she’s embarrassed, and Robin’s _ obsessed _ with how _careful_ Barb is about not being an asshole. Robin's surrounded by people who want to put off the _aura_ of not being an asshole, but very few of them actually care at the end of the day. They’re off campus by now, and Barb takes out a joint, lights it and puffs until it pulls even before she passes it to Robin. 

“I didn’t really like it either until I joined a sorority,” Robin confesses, blowing smoke rings by force of habit. “Like, I had this whole _ thing _ about makeup being a _ product of the patriarchy _ and how I didn’t wanna buy into it, but then seeing Rivka do, like, _ cool shit _ with makeup made me wanna try it out, so. I don’t usually wear something this cool unless she or Kali wants to make me up.” 

They talk the whole way to the Haus, even stop for a few minutes underneath the train trestle to finish the joint before they get close. Barb’s funny as hell, like, _ intentionally _ funny, not like when Robin opens her mouth and says something ridiculous by accident. The show organizer still hasn’t opened the doors to the Haus when they get there, so they mill around with all the other indie kids, all making fun of each other’s hair under their breaths. 

Finally, there’s a cheer from the crowd and people start lining up on the ramp. Robin grabs Barb’s hand without thinking, pulls her up to the line that’s forming. The cops’ve been on the Haus organizers’ _ asses _ about following fire code and shit, so they’re actually trying to be careful about it and not let eighty people into a space that's only zoned for 40 or whatever. Robin’s _ not about _ to miss a Bitch Babies show, though, even if it means she _has_ to elbow past a group of people from one of her design classes and basically _ guarantee _ that they’re all gonna be glaring at her in lecture for the next two weeks. 

The suggested donation is $5 a person, but Robin throws a twenty into the bucket while the show organizer marks sharpie slashes on her and Barb’s hands to show that they’re underage. They have to pay rent on the building _ and _ pay the touring bands, so she always throws a couple extra bucks in to help out when she can afford it. Robin still hasn’t let go of Barb’s hand, but Barb doesn't seem weird about it, so she doesn’t pull away, just leads her to the back corner that muffles some of the sound. The Haus has _ terrible _ acoustics, which makes sense since it’s _ basically _ a one-room shack with a single bathroom; every band Robin’s ever heard here has turned their amps up too far trying to get a balanced sound they’re never gonna get in the space, and it can be _super_ overwhelming if you aren't prepared for it. 

“You’re gonna want earplugs, I have an extra pair,” Robin yells over the garage rock somebody’s playing over the PA. She has to let go of Barb’s hand to rustle around in her bag, but she comes up with two sets of the fancy true-to-sound earplugs her mom had bought her in bulk after hearing about Robin’s less sratty weekend activities. Barb’s eyes are fucking _ red _ from the weed, which Robin’s a little embarrassed to admit she thinks is cute. 

She has to help Barb get them in her ears right, which means Barb has to bend down into Robin’s personal space, which basically bluescreens Robin’s brain with _ wanting _ for a second. She fights through it to focus on not poking Barb’s eardrums out or something else terrible, and then before they can get used to hearing each other’s voices through the earplugs well enough to keep talking, the PA cuts out and a guitar screeches as the Bitch Babies take the stage. They’re, like, Robin’s _ favorite _ local band, a trio of punk as hell girls who all fucking _ shred _ on their respective instruments; Robin had, like, _ gotten emotional _ about the lead singer’s voice when she had gotten a little too crossfaded the last time they’d performed at the Haus.

They have these new stickers on their equipment that say _ I CAN CARRY MY OWN GEAR, DUDE! _ on them. After their first fiery song, the drummer and the guitarist go quiet, look over at the lead singer, a little dwarfed by her bass but still commanding the room's attention. 

“In case you haven’t noticed our newest piece of merch, we made stickers!” she half-bellows into the mic as she points to the sticker on her amp. “They’re just _ perfect _ for letting the sexist dudes in _ your _ chosen job or career path that you don’t need their fucking help handling _ your own shit! _ Also, if you’re one of the six thousand dudes who’s asked if we need help _ carrying all that heavy gear _ at a show before, you’re, like, morally obligated to buy one, so now you have a Secret Santa gift for that _ mean girl _ in your office who doesn’t let you speak over her in meetings!!” A cheer goes up from all the women in the room, and there’s a couple semi-serious jeers from the crowd that stop _ real fucking quick _ when the lead singer starts pointing to the dudes who’re booing. Everybody laughs, and then they launch into another song. 

“Do you wanna go into the pit?” Robin asks, hopes Barb will say no. It’s, like, theoretically a rite of passage, everybody’s _ supposed _ to do it on their first visit to the Haus, but Robin doesn’t like being in mosh pits, and she wouldn’t let Barb do it alone, it fucking _ sucks_. 

“GOD no,” Barb yells back. She reaches down to grab Robin’s hand again, though, and they bounce along to the beat. Robin's hands are sweaty with nerves and other people's body heat, but Barb doesn't seem to mind. 

It’s too fucking _ loud _ to talk much during the show, but Robin’s stoned enough to yell along to the songs she knows the words to. When the Bitch Babies’ set is over, somebody opens the big back doors and everybody streams out to smoke cigarettes. Robin doesn’t really smoke cigarettes, but she needs to get away from all the _ people _ inside, so she lets Barb lead the way out the back door. 

“So, you’re officially an artsy kid now,” Robin announces, and realizes that her voice is hoarse from singing along. “How does it _ feel _ to be the newest artsy hipster in this fucking town?” 

“They were _ good _ ,” Barb answers, sounding a little surprised. That’s honestly _ fair_, given that most of the bands who play regular shows at DIY spaces are, uh, on the _ rough _ side musically. “Are the bands here _ always _ that good?” 

“I fucking _ wish,_ but no. The Bitch Babies are, like, my favorite local band _ by far_. Their lead singer does art stuff, too, I actually have one of her paintings hanging in my dorm room. They’re _ so fucking cool_, holy _ shit_.” The lead singer (Vanessa, maybe? Robin should _ probably _ know this by now) walks by with a cigarette in one hand and a half-empty forty in the other, and she must hear Robin being a fucking fangirl, because she shoots them finger guns and a wink that’s obviously overwhelming for Robin _ and _ Barb. 

“Come by the merch table later,” she throws over her shoulder as she keeps walking. There’s a little smudge of black lipstick on one of her canines when she smiles all hot and predatory at a dude. 

“Holy _ shit_, she’s cute,” Barb blurts out, then puts her hands over her face like she’s embarrassed. “Not, like, as cute as you, I mean, but, like, _ holy shit. _”

“That’s _ super _ valid,” Robin agrees, waving off the butterflies in her stomach. “_Holy shit _ is fucking _ right_. Are you, uh, having a good time?” 

“Yeah, dude, this is fucking _ great_, like, I have _ got _ to bring Jonathan here.”

“Jonathan Byers?” Robin ask. It probably isn’t, given how many fucking _ people _ there are at the university, but to her surprise, Barb nods at her, wide eyed. 

“Yeah, actually, uh, how do _ you _ know him?”

“We’re the layout people for the lit mag, sometimes we go to shows here together and shit,” Robin answers, but, like, “How do _ you _ know him? He’s an arts major. I thought you engineering majors were all segregated from the rest of the _unwashed masses_ or whatever.” Barb wrinkles her nose at the idea and cackles out a laugh.

“Honestly, it's more like the university is quarantining us so nobody else has to try to make sense of our chosen discipline," Barb jokes. "But Jonathan and my best friend Nancy have been dating for, like, two and a half years, and we’re all from Hawkins, so we went to school together and shit too.”

“So, like, we’re one degree of Jonathan Byers from each other, then?” Robin’s a little overwhelmed, honestly, with the idea that a girl this cute and funny and smart has been the social equivalent of her _ neighbor _ for so long without her ever knowing it. Barb laughs, and then they talk very gentle trash about Jonathan’s undereye circles for a while. 

“_Ew_,” Barb laughs, “But yeah, technically that’s true I guess. Oh, hey, do you maybe wanna get brunch with me and a couple of my friends tomorrow morning? No, like, pressure or anything.” 

Robin agrees, tries to fight a quiet little smile at the idea of Barb wanting to keep her around. She fights through the crowd to the grimy-ass bathroom right before the next set starts, and in the bathroom she texts Rivka, a little too stoned from hitting Barb’s vape outside to be truly coherent, _ Hi I’m going to bruch with her in the morning does that count as another date???? _

Rivka texts back before she’s done peeing. 

Rivets

_ Yeah that means you guys are like, lesbian married right?? If she’s bringing u 2 friend food stuff, she must be srs abt it _

_ Also I’m @ Amine with Gemz and Billy is being SO fucking EXTRA holy shit i thot u were exaggerating but DAMNNNNNNN by is tryna GET IT_

_ Lmao check ur snapchat for the recpeits _

_ This is too fucking funny he and this other skinny white boy r about to FUUUUCK right here in the crowd, like, this is some Usher “Love In This Club” shit _

Robin clicks into her snapchat to load the videos while she’s drying her hands, as if it makes much of a difference to dry them when there’s _no_ _goddamn soap_ to wash them with, she’s gonna have to donate some decent fucking cleaning supplies because apparently none of the Haus boys are gonna fucking buy them. Robin finds Barb in the crowd again, and they huddle together around Robin’s iPhone, watch Billy and Steve _basically_ fucking in public, like, _jesus._ She's gonna make fun of him _forever_, especially because she _knows_ Rivka saved that video for future friendly blackmail purposes. 

While she and Barb are so close, Robin snaps a selfie of the two of them, puts it on her insta story. By the time the set’s over, Barb’s elbowing her and showing Robin the groupchat where Steve’s bailed on brunch and they laugh themselves silly. They visit the merch table while it's a little slow, and Vanessa(?) gives them each a kiss on the cheek and a free sticker. Knowing that Barb's got a greyish lip print on her cheek that mirrors Robin's own is heady, and the wink Vanessa sends their way is a little intoxicating, too, if she's honest. 

“Steve must be whipped if he’s gonna stay in that frat house the night of one of the biggest parties of the year,” Robin yells into Barb’s ear over the yowling guitars of some metal band that someone’s playing over the PA way too goddamn loud. “That place is a loud fucking shitshow every night, it’s gotta be a fucking _ pigsty _ tonight.” Barb laughs, gestures like _ wanna go outside_, and they walk out into the night. It’s _ finally _ cooling off from the heat of the day, and Robin shivers, rubs at her upper arms.

“Here, I throw off heat,” Barb offers, arm already curling around Robin's shoulders, and then she visibly freezes. “I mean, I’m not trying to put the moves on you, sorry, I’m not trying to be a creep or anything.” 

“Okay," Robin starts, and then thinks back to Kali looking at her in the KD kitchen like _you gotta let yourself take chances sometimes_. "Okay, but what if I _ want _ you to be putting the moves on me?” Robin says, breath catching in her throat. 

“Well in that case,” Barb says with a wink while she snugs her arm around Robin's shoulders, and she hadn’t been wrong about throwing off heat; Robin barely feels the chill in the night air as Barb turns the two of them away from the crowd. 

“If you can get us to campus, I can walk you back to the KD house,” Barb suggests. “It’s, uh, this direction, right?”

“Close,” Robin laughs, pointing the opposite direction. “Campus is _ thattaway_. And you can walk me to my actual _ dorm _ if you wanna, I don’t live in the house.”

“I thought you had to live in the house to be a full member?” Barb asks, and Robin complains the whole way back to her dorm about lotteries and seniority and how members who are chairs are _ supposed _ to be living in the house. Barb laughs and pokes fun at sororities in all the right places, and never in that shitty way a lot of people make fun of sororities, either. 

They stand outside Robin’s door for like _ twenty minutes _, finishing their conversation like Barb isn’t picking her up for brunch in less than twelve hours, and before she leaves, Barb presses an awkward, gentle kiss to the corner of Robin’s mouth. It’s maybe the sweetest thing that’s ever happened to Robin.

Kali apparently took a photo of the two of them huddled together at the show and sent it to the groupchat. Robin doesn’t let it phase her until Gemma screenshots Robin's Snapchat story and sends _ that _ and they all go _off_. She fights the roasting they’re giving her for a minute, but then she just sends _ lol _ back to all of their texts and gets ready for bed, smiling like an idiot. (She sends Billy twenty bucks on cashapp with the note _you still owe me $15, ho_ and hopes that he’s too busy putting the mack on Steve to notice.)

  
  


Robin doesn’t drink as much champagne as a lot of people would expect her to, and so she _ might _ get a little fucked up on mimosas at brunch the next morning. She _ might _ be having a super interesting argument about vibrators versus dildos with Nancy at full volume, and Barb _ might _ be laughing her fucking head off and trying to get them to shut the fuck up before the uptight yummy mummies at the table nearest to them try to get them kicked out. 

“Yeah, okay, but, like, when’s the last time you came so hard your brains turned to jelly from a dildo?” Nancy accuses. 

“Dude, one time a girl gave me the strap so good that I came so hard I _ cried _ and couldn’t get up to pee for _ twenty minutes_, like, I get what you mean about external stimulation but you _do _know that people still have _ hands _ when they’re using a dildo, right?” Robin fires back. The waitress at the next table laughs so hard she accidentally spills a girl’s peach bellini everywhere, and they make a tactical retreat from the restaurant to head back to campus before the other brunchgoers on the patio vote them off the proverbial island. 

“God, I’m gonna have to punish Jonathan for not introducing you to us earlier,” Nancy says as Barb drives them back to campus. The words ring in Robin’s ears for a second as she remembers all the warning signs she’s heard for domestic violence all at once, and it must show on her face, because Barb, thank _ god_, intervenes, eyes darting between the road and Robin's face in the passenger seat and Nancy in the rearview mirror. 

“I don’t think Jonathan talks about his wild and kinky sex life with his lit mag buddies, Nance, you might wanna, like, _ explain_.” 

“Oh, _ shit, _ ” Nancy swears, and laughs, puts a fine-boned hand on Robin’s bicep. “I _ forgot_, didn’t I? Okay, so, _ okay. _ Normally I talk to Jonathan about telling other people but I’ve already voted you and Billy into the group and he’ll be fine with you knowing, just don’t be an asshole about it, not that I think you _ would be_.” Nancy’s a little more drunk than Robin is, and she’s clearly one of those tipsy people who isn’t _ great _ at telling stories. (It’s probably because she’s a Gemini moon, honestly.)

“I’m Jonathan’s dom, like, _ BDSM dom_, obvi. You obviously know more about it than Barb did when I first told her so that makes this _ way _ fucking easier, Barb read me the fucking riot act and thought she was gonna try to report me to somebody when I first told her, my little vanilla _ baby_, but _ anyways_. Jonathan’s a subby little fuck, and we haven’t gotten a good chance to scene in a while, and having something that isn’t _ actually _ bad to punish him for means he super duper won't feel weird about it afterwards, like, if he thought you wouldn’t be weirded out by it he would probably _ thank you _ next time he sees you.” She goes on, talks about _ exactly _ what she’s planning for their next scene all the way to Jonathan’s shitty apartment complex, and Barb keeps making these stupidly funny _ noises _ and begging _ please, you _ promised _ you wouldn’t talk about Jonathan’s o-face when I’m in the room anymore, Nance_. Nancy raises her chin all ahughty and doesn't even acknowledge that Barb's spoken. Robin can imagine that Nancy's a good dom with and _I'm better than you_ face that strong, although she tries not to out of respect.

They go back to Barb’s room (neater than any respectable college student has a right to keep a dorm room; her desk is laid out like an Instagram photo, like, it’s _ wild_) once they drop Nancy off, and for lack of anything _ structured _ to do, they lay around in Barb’s bed listening to music and blowing hits of her vape out the window. They aren't even really talking, just being in their own worlds in the same place. It's _perfect_. 

_ I wanna hang out with Barb FOREVER_, she texts the groupchat. 

“Oh my _ god_, Billy’s taking _ Steve _ to see Girl Talk, this is the most unfair shit in the WORLD,” Barb huffs, nails tapping against the screen of her phone. 

_ SOS _ , Robin texts the groupchat again, _ who do we know who still has wristbands for the Phi Delt party tn??? _

Gemmsy

_ I have one of the Phi Delt pledges’ pledge pin right now, I can make him do whatever, lemme hit him up 4 u _

“I think I can get us tickets if you want me to,” Robin says, and Barb _ yelps _ with joy and Robin wants to kiss her, like, _ so fucking bad _. 

Rivets

_ GEMZ I thot u would’ve given that back by now, he’s a BABY, wyd??? He’s not even CUTE girl!! _

Gemmsy

_ EW no fuckin’ way _

_ He’s Amanda’s younger bro, some Tri-Delt kept taking it and making him let her cheat and he almost got honor coded, so I took it to keep it safe, he gets it back before every pin check and I make him read articles about intersectionality and all the 'isms, apparently he's been bringing up how sexist their CEOs and Office Hoes party was last year in chapter meetings lmao _

_ Glad u think I’m a cougar tho (devil emoji)_

Rivets

_ I wouldn’t put it past u is all I’m saying _

Kali

_ Rivs means 2 say that ur a GGBILF (a Great-Grand-Big I’d Like to Fuck) and u should start giving pledges their sexual awakenings (water drop emoji) (water drop emoji) (water drop emoji)_

_ Does having boring sex with frat boys and showing them the ways of Good Sex™ count towards our philanthropy hours?? _

Robin

_ No, but if it did I would’ve won the service award last year, lmao, remember when I went thru that frat boy phase and didn't have a partner-assisted orgasm for like four months_

_ Gems PLEASE get me tix I’m, like, FULL King Princess abt this girl rn _

Gemmsy

_ GOD u and Kali are the WORST with ur King Princess obsession _

_ But yeah I got u, altho if I didn’t already have my OWN wristband I wouldn’t help u so consider urself lucky!!! _

_ Also, Kali, who says I HAVENT given any pledges their sexual awakenings yet this yr??? _

Rivets

_ I tried to argue it DID count my freshman yr but the Panhellenic Council got mad at me _

_ Lmao “full King Princess” u r such a mess _

Gemmsy

_ Lmao I remember that, all those white boys getting all up in arms abt their shitty sex lives _

_ Robs, Mark’s gonna bring ‘em to the house for me, bring this butch babe with u to pick them up so we can meet (shovel talk) her!!!!!! _

Kali

_ I wanna shovel talk somebody!!!! _

Rivets

_ NO SHOVEL TALKS ALLOWED _

_ Fr tho bring her, I wanna meet her!!! _

“_Dude _ ,” Barb wheezes, passing Robin her phone. “_Look _ at this photo of Steve and Billy, holy _ shit_, incredible.” They look _ sinful_, like, Billy’s in full _ fuck-me eyes _ mode and Steve mostly looks like Billy just ruined sex with anyone else for him forever. Robin laughs too, and Barb sends off a text, shuffles around on her pillow so Robin can see the screen.

“They really do look like porn, oh my _ god_.” Robin must still be feeling the mimosas a little bit, or that’s what she’ll blame it on. “Ask if they actually _ made _ a porn, like, don’t ask me how I know this, but that’s on his, like, sex bucket list.” Barb _ screams _ with laughter, types so fast her thumbs are almost blurry. Robin feels kinda bad about spreading Billy’s shit, but, like, he sends a text back a few minutes later that implies _ very heavily _ that Steve’s going down on Billy _ while Billy’s texting Steve’s groupchat about it_, so she doesn’t feel all that bad.

“Hey, Barb?” Barb looks over at her, shoves her phone under her pillow and focuses all her attention on Robin.

“Hi, Robin,” Barb smiles, and she has dimples in both cheeks, and Robin can’t help herself. 

“I, uh, I really wanna make out with you, if you want to.” Robin’s not exactly smooth, especially not with girls like Barb laying so close that Robin can see the little flecks of amber in her irises. She hums that cheesy Postal Service song, _ I am thinking it’s a sign that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images and when we kiss they’re perfectly aligned_, and Barb nods, puts her fingers on Robin’s collarbone and leans in for a kiss. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi welcome to the WLW subset of my hellbrain, in which everybody is _losing their shit at all times, always and forever_. This was super fucking fun to write, and is absolutely an ode to so many of the things I loved when I was in undergrad. (Although I wasn't in a srat, whatever, it's fine.) Robin's such a fun character to write. (Also, if anyone found themselves really loving Gemma and Rivka, I have good news: I plan to write something more about Robin and the KD-fam in the future, I promise.) 
> 
> I am participating in the Harringrove Big Bang this year, so if anyone has any suggestions for things I should write or what they'd like to see more of in this 'verse, def feel free to let me know, either in a comment or [on my tumblr](https://achingnostalgia.tumblr.com/)! 
> 
> **Other Notes**
> 
>   * The title of this work comes from _Prophet_ by King Princess, who has the distinct honor of making me feel more like a sixteen year old queer girl with a big ol' crush than I have felt since I was a sixteen year old queer girl with a big ol' crush. King Princess is so good, oh my _lord_.
>   * The title of the series is from the eternal Kanye JAM _Good Life_. 'Ye didn't have to go so hard on Graduation, but he sure fuckin' did.
>   * If you'd like some recommendations for other songs that make me feel Big Gay Things(tm), you can check out [this spotify playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/nikwarr/playlist/3Ktr6ZzheoEwQIWCd7QYGa?si=CTPC_0B-TsaUK5TsMZb93w). it's not actually intended to be a companion playlist for this piece (I actually started writing it with another Harringrove AU in mind and I haven't figured out what plot that one has, if any), but it's got some good gay bops on there, plus Tracy Chapman's hit that always makes me CRY big gay tears, _Fast Car_.
> 
> Thank y'all SO MUCH, and don't worry, I'm definitely not done playing in this sandbox.


End file.
